From what I have read, there isn't a lot of love for some guns made in Turkey. I'm looking at purchasing a shotgun, and found (what I think is a great deal on a Mossberg Silver Reserve O/U. Haven't read a lot of good things about this gun due it being made in Turkey.

Does this also apply to Weatherby shotguns as well? Have also been looking at the Weatherby guns as well. Both their Semi Auto (SA-08) as well as their Pump (PA-08). Have read some good reviews on these...but they are made in Turkey as well.

Any thoughts or experiences? Still debating between semi auto, and a pump. Will mostly be used for hunting....very little if any trap shooting. Want something that won't break the bank, but will be reliable.

I live in Manitoba, Canada and finding good used guns is pretty tough. Otherwise I would look into a "higher end" used shotgun. If anyone has a good place to find good used guns in Canada, please let me know.

Guns are made all over the world and Turkey is making some good products now. I think Baretta Corp. gets barrels for some Stoger models there. I have a PA-08 Upland pump and am very pleased with it as it is a well made nice looking shotgun that looks more expensive than it is. Turkey has low wages compared to the USA and also the enviromental regs.are not as strict as here ie., Chrome plating inside of the PA-08 barrel and waste disposal. In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law requires EPA to determine the level of contaminants in drinking water.The MCLG for chromium (total) is 0.1 mg/L or 100 ppb. EPA has set this level of protection based on the best available science.

I have a Mossberg and a Ruger made in USA and Beretta and Franchi shotguns made in Italy as well as the Weatherby.OGC5

If Relliability is what you want, staying away from Turkish made guns is a good idea. I have one,(a Huglu) and it has been good so far. I didn't buy it as a primary gun, and the price was too good to pass on. The Q.C. on Turkish guns in general is questionable to say the least. I don't think the designs are bad, most of them are copies of proven actions, but things like quality metals and heat treating seen to be the downfall. I don't know your price range, but I would shop around for something better. Just my 2 cents.

When Turkish shotguns had there own name on them they didn't have to answer to anyone and they could use short cuts and sell anything they wanted. They always looked nice but the metal was soft and the fit and finish was poor. Now that they have to answer to some one like Weatherby , and Beretta and others, and the use of CNC machines things have really changed. You won't get these great deals much longer as people find out how good they are getting. Same with China. There small engines are hard to beat. My neighbor bought a 2 stage snowblower last fall from sears and it had a 6 1/2 hp. engine on it and it starts better and has a lot more power then mine with a 6 1/2 Tecum. on it. Thats just the way it is folks!!!Dave

Don't buy the Huglu. Terrible guns and absolutely worthless. Besides, if everyone finds out how good they are, supply and demand will take over before I can finish my collection of SXS's and I'll be priced out of the market.

Seriously, I own 4 CZ SXS and a DeHaan SGr custom shop SXS and have found them to be a well engineered product with fit, finish and handling qualities equal to guns costing a lot more. But please don't buy them until I get my 28 ga and 410 SXS.

_________________An elderly gentleman, his faithful dog, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world.

Don't buy the Huglu. Terrible guns and absolutely worthless. Besides, if everyone finds out how good they are, supply and demand will take over before I can finish my collection of SXS's and I'll be priced out of the market.

Seriously, I own 4 CZ SXS and a DeHaan SGr custom shop SXS and have found them to be a well engineered product with fit, finish and handling qualities equal to guns costing a lot more. But please don't buy them until I get my 28 ga and 410 SXS.

You could have had my buddy's CZ SxS 28, it went off when he closed it. . .everyone was just thankful he was pointing it in a safe direction. Other than that, he really liked the gun, just couldn't trust it after that.

I had a CZ sxs. I started getting light primer strikes due to poor lock up before I was through the first box of shells. The whole thing became a giant deboccle. I have a few friends with CZ O/Us, and they are fine, although none of my friends shoot any where near the volume of shells I do. I just cannot bring myself to buy another Turkish double. Once bitten.....

Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:25 pmPosts: 10486Location: The Last Good Country

Note that Weatherby sources semiautos and pumps from Turkey, not O/Us or SxSs.

All else being equal, a $500 semiauto will be a much better gun than a $500 O/U, because it's easier and cheaper to make a semiauto in a modern factory.

Personally, I don't consider Turkish guns to be all that trustworthy. If an industry has no culture of quality, then I don't trust that industry.

OTOH, Belgium made crap, too, once upon a time. Ditto for Japan. Having to meet the spec's of outside buyers can do wonders for an industry's culture. OTOH, if those spec's are, "Make us an O/U we can rebadge and sell for $475 retail, after you, we, the wholesalers and retailers have all made a decent profit" then they're not going to improve anything...

_________________I suspect that the 'T' in P.T. Barnum stands for Tactical.

I would stay away from the Huglu made guns, they're terrible guns, I currently hate all 5 of my Huglu made O/U's and SxS's, even my 2 SGr custom shop guns, I simply hate them. My Huglu made guns shoot and function and hold up every bit as well my Merkel and my Beretta, Fausti, Benellis, ect. but I still hate them, I do want to buy one more Huglu custom shop 16 gauge SGr though even though I already know that I'll hate the piece of junk when I get it. But again I would suggest that you steer clear of the terrible Huglu guns, they're already getting more expensive.Strat

I'm a fairly well known fan of the Huglu guns, but even people that hate the Huglu guns will tell you that I, and everyone else on the "I Love My Huglu" forum will be pretty honest with you about these guns. Come pay us a visit.

I won't try to address Turkish shotguns in general. That would be foolish. Far to many companies making shotguns in Turkey to try to generalize.

So here is the honest scoop on Huglu made shotguns.

10 + years ago their doubles were questionable at best. They broke firing pins...A LOT! There were some complaints of "doubling". But check out the K-Gun forum. Those $10,000 guns "double" too.

The Huglu doubles are now good reliable field guns. If you are going to pop 10,000+ caps per year, a Huglu double is probably not the way to go. But at 10,000 caps per year, you are spending more on shells every year than a Huglu costs. If you can afford that, spend the money and buy a proven high volume gun. Talk to drsfmd or any of the other serious high volume clay shooters here. They will steer you right.

As to Huglu semis......Huglu has not made any concentrated effort to sell semi auto shotguns in the U.S. The Huglu Semis do not have a proven track record like their doubles. I don't like semis, but if I was going to buy an inexpensive semi, it would probably be a Huglu.

If you plan to buy a Huglu semi, be sure to buy one from TR Imports or CZ-USA. Both companies include a 5 year warranty and stand behind it.

As for non-Huglu Turkish shotguns......do your research, but in my opinion, buyer beware.

I bought a Huglu 20 sxs, my cousin bought an identical gun in 28 sxs. Mine began doubling, was sent back to shop 2 times before it was replaced with a brand new gun which I promptly sold (at a good profit I might add). My cousin's gun has performed perfectly and he is quite fond of it. Go figure.

French Double, I had a couple of problems with some Huglu guns back in about 2003 to 2005 and one gun was repaired and one gun replaced. The 5 current Huglus that I have are excellent field guns with thousands of rounds thru them with zero problems. A guy that I know has 20,000 + rounds thru his side by side DeHaan/Huglu without a single problem as well. I love my Huglu guns, the SXS guns are almost identical in design to my 147 EL Merkel, they even share the same stock dimensions and shoot very much the same in regards to fit. I have two Huglu sub gauge O/U's, a .410 and a 20 ga. that I really like but I don't care much for tall slab sided O/U's so I'm not real partial to the Huglu 12 ga. O/U's, all my 12 ga. O/U's are 680 series Beretta's, I do actually really like the Merkel O/U's as well though.Strat

Tim--I live in Manitoba, Canada as well. I'm not sure where you are but used guns can be found. In fact, I just traded a Winchester 101 for some other guns to a gun smith in Alberta. I see he has it listed for $775.00 and it is no problem to get it mailed to your house. If you check Alberta Outdoors Forum, you will find all kinds of guns for sale on there and as I said, it is nothing to have it mailed. You could also try MacDonald's Sporting Goods in Portage La Prairie . You can check the web on Portage On Line as they often have shotguns on there. Of course there is also Cabellas and Wholesale Sports in Winnipeg. By the way, I also have a Huglu sxs and o/u. They have been great for me although I don't shoot high volume. Like others have said, if you are going to shoot high volume, then perhaps you should look for something different.

Actually Huglu Field guns will stand up to the same volume as any other well made, quality Field gun. They use the correct steel and are actually way over engineered and very well fitted. Just for an example, Mark DeHaan's personal Huglu made SxS has over 20,000 hunting and target rounds thru it and it's as tight as the day it was made. Just for the record the Huglu O/U's design is a combination of the best features of the Browning and Boss designs and the SxS guns are nearly indentical in design to the Merkel SxS guns, Here is an interesting article for those of you that REALLY care to know more about the Huglu company and their fine firearms:

For anybody interested in checking out the full Huglu line of guns you can check them out at TR Imports, they actually have photos of all of the actual guns that you might be interested in, here's their website:

Tim--I live in Manitoba, Canada as well. I'm not sure where you are but used guns can be found. In fact, I just traded a Winchester 101 for some other guns to a gun smith in Alberta. I see he has it listed for $775.00 and it is no problem to get it mailed to your house. If you check Alberta Outdoors Forum, you will find all kinds of guns for sale on there and as I said, it is nothing to have it mailed. You could also try MacDonald's Sporting Goods in Portage La Prairie . You can check the web on Portage On Line as they often have shotguns on there. Of course there is also Cabellas and Wholesale Sports in Winnipeg. By the way, I also have a Huglu sxs and o/u. They have been great for me although I don't shoot high volume. Like others have said, if you are going to shoot high volume, then perhaps you should look for something different.

I live in Halifax N.S.

Used guns in Canada, look at:Gagnon sports (high quality good prices)Ellwood EppsThe gun dealer in N.B.Prophet River in Alberta has very good new gun prices.Go to the canadiangunnutz web site and check out the banner ad. It has a good list of Canadian gun sellers

Having recently purchased one of the remaining S&W Gold Elite guns (UTAS) and generally being a booster of some Turkish made shotguns, I'd like to know what has happened to UTAS and if their doubles are still being imported into the US. The Gold Elite I bought was an absolute steal at $1300 and I'd like to get a couple more of their guns if they are of similar quality.

I'm not too good with computers and haven't been able to find much on UTAS other than their website.

You seem to know something about what UTAS is up to now. Can you enlighten me a bit please?